Dark Paradise
by TheFairyPrincessNinja-OcAbuser
Summary: The story of Alexandria-Alexander and Andrew Alan Thatcher, Better known as Xander and Andy. Set during the Saga of Larten Crepsley and the regular DSS books. MikaxOc, eventual LartenxOc -not one of my characters, my sister's!-, Fatherly Vancha, Brotherly Larten, Son/baby Gavner, and other assorted fun and tomfoolery. Rated T for swearing and the occasional smutty joke and gore.


_**Hello again! Sooo yeah… lots of stuff lead up to me getting completely bored with RLS… so I did some thinking and I came up with this! I also did some changing around, took some characters out, and added some stuff, so hopefully it'll be better!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: Don't own 'em, but I do have a few of the books!**_

* * *

I sat there, shivering in the cold.

I was behind the house, gasping for air.

My emerald eyes were wide and tears were freely running down my face.

Mixing with the blood leaking out of the cut on the bridge of my nose.

Blood…

Oh dear God, there was so much blood.

All over my parents and older sister and younger brothers and…

Andy..!

Oh God, please tell me my twin's still alive!

I scrambled to my feet, hissing when the deep gashes on my back met the cold winter air.

It's usually not this cold in the winter.

Usually it never snows around here.

It's always too hot.

I ran around the house and stared through the broken down door, horrified at what my eyes saw.

Blood.

So much blood.

It was everywhere, even in places I never thought it could get.

My eyes slowly raked over the carnage, taking in the different mangled bodies that were once my family.

Momma and Daddy.

Ellie and her husband, Ed.

Bob and Jimmy.

All of them were so terrifyingly still.

More tears rolled down my face.

I finally heard something other than my cries and the howling wind.

A soft sobbing that almost matched mine perfectly.

The one body in the middle of them all, shaking hard.

The matching auburn hair splayed out on the floor, pale limbs trying and failing to prop himself up, the repeated curses that let me know instantly who it is.

Andy.

I ran into my home and hit my knees next to him.

I pulled him up into a hard embrace, screaming with sobs and pain from my back.

His arms hap-hazardly wrapped around my body and he buried his face into my shoulder.

He was thanking God.

Thanking God that I was still alive.

That WE were still alive.

I finally helped him up.

There was blood oozing out of a long hole in his chest, splitting his shirt open.

He was gritting his teeth, and I knew it was hurting him, but we needed to get out of here.

At least to get away from the stench.

We limped out of our house together and started down the road.

No one would come looking for the family for about a week.

By then, we would be long gone.

* * *

We came to a river about two miles away from the house.

It was as far as Andy could go before he began begging me to stop.

I couldn't hurt him anymore.

I took off his shirt and tore it into smaller pieces and got it wet before pressing it on his chest.

He moaned in pain, but didn't tell me to stop.

Instead he grabbed my hand and held it tight.

More wind rushed by and I had to grit my teeth to ignore the pain in my back.

It wasn't doing much, but I had to take care of my brother.

Twelve minutes or not, I'm still the older sibling.

I tore of a long strip of my skirt and wrapped it around his middle, tying the wet shirt onto his wound.

I ripped off and tied on two more strips just to be sure and sat back, holding his hand again.

He finally opened his eyes and they met mine.

The matching deep green stared through my act, reading my pain in an instant.

He sat up slowly, gripping my shoulder tightly.

"Yer hurt," he said bluntly.

My brother made me lay down on my stomach so he could examine me.

He took what was left of his shirt and got it damp, pressing it firmly onto the gashes in my back.

I sucked in a sharp breath and squeezed my eyes shut.

My fists bunched up and clawed at the ground as he ripped off even more of my skirt and doing the same I had done to him.

I slowly got up and sat back on my heels.

We looked at each other again.

He had a long cut across his nose, too.

We reached out to each other and numbly wiped blood away from our freckled faces.

And then we sat there.

I don't know for how long, but we sat there staring at each other, begging with our eyes for the other to come up with something to do.

We were lost.

Finally we stood in our usual unison and started down the road again, hand in hand.

We were lost.

But we at least had each other.

* * *

I stood behind Andy, staring at the strange man with wary caution.

Good Lord was he strange!

Long, bright green hair, dressed in thick furs, well, maybe the fur thing wasn't strange.

It was much colder here than it was back home.

Andy stood protectively in front of me, lips twisted into a snarl and green eyes sharp behind his now very long, tangled bangs.

The man looked confused and intrigued at our presence.

Well, wouldn't you?

It's not every day that you run into two stick-like teenagers who look like they've been beaten within an inch of their lives and have lived in the woods for a few weeks.

Which was entirely the case.

"Well, well! What do we have here?" the man said.

He was obviously not from around here; his accent was all off.

Me and Andy stayed quiet, me because I was a little afraid, Andy because he didn't trust him and it was just Andy.

"Come now, children, don't be scared," he gently pressed, kneeling down to our height.

Andy and I were always short for our age.

We still didn't move, watching the man carefully.

The man sat there staring right back at us before sticking a hand out to us.

"My name is Vancha March; can you tell me yours?"

I blinked slowly and looked at my brother.

He glanced back at me, reading my eyes before looking back at Vancha.

"Andrew Alan Thatcher," he said shortly, stiffly shaking the man's hand.

His other was still pressed pretty hard onto his chest.

It wasn't healing as well as we had hoped.

Neither was my back, but he kinda needed his chest.

Andy jerked his head at me, "Alexandria-Alexander Thatcher."

Vancha smiled kindly at me before asking, "Are you two siblings?"

We both nodded, me tightening my grip on Andy's shoulder.

Vancha nodded back, "What are you two doing out here in such little clothing?"

My throat got tight and Andy's shoulders squared off.

Both of our eyes got misty and we bit down hard on our lower lips.

Vancha saw our identical reactions and cautiously asked, "Do you have a family?"

"Not no more," Andy answered in a wavering, emotionless voice.

I slowly shook my head, a few tears escaping down my face.

Vancha's face grew hard and he examined us for a few seconds.

"How did you two get so beaten up?"

We stayed silent, Andy's grip on the cloth that covered his wound tightening slightly.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?"

We shook our heads slowly and he let out a small chuckle.

"Well, I think I can help get you patched up better than that, if you'll trust me."

That made my heart slightly beat with hope.

Andy wouldn't last much longer unless someone else took care of him.

Andy looked suspiciously at Vancha; I knew he didn't trust him.

I squeezed his shoulder and he looked back at me.

I gave him my best pleading/puppy eyes, hoping he'd just suck it up and go with him.

He stared at me for a minute and finally sighed in defeat.

He turned back to Vancha and slightly nodded, taking my hand.

Vancha smiled at us and rose, leading us deeper into the forest and the darkening night.

* * *

I sat awake, watching Andy sleep.

He was doing so much better since we first got to the cave that Vancha was living in.

He lived with this weird lady named Evanna.

Yeah, all I can really say is she's about as weird as weird can get.

But I couldn't really complain, because she fixed us up really well and got us food and new clothes.

She also let us bathe, which was the way to get on my good side anyways.

So I sat on one of the overly-fluffy couches, silently watching my brother sleep peacefully with his hands habitually pressed to his chest.

"You should sleep too, Alexandria."

I turned slightly and looked at Vancha.

"You've both lost a lot of strength; sleep and get it back," he coaxed, sitting down beside me.

I blinked at him and laid on my stomach, still watching my brother sleep.

"I have ta make sure he don't have no night frights," I said softly, speaking for the first time since I met him.

"I'm sure he'll be fine."

"No. He's been havin' them lots. That's why he had ta sleep 'fore me."

I kept staring at my twin.

I heard Vancha sigh and felt him place a blanket on me.

"I'll keep an eye on him; you sleep."

I looked at him and blinked.

He did the exact same.

"Y'all's gonna be here when we wake up?"

"Yes."

I nodded and settled down into the cushions.

"Sleep well Alexandria."

"… Xander…"

I looked up at him.

"My name's Xander."

* * *

_**Okaaaay… so that's that… R&R please and tell me what you think? You'll get major brownie points and a chappie dedicated to you! **_

_**Ah, bribery…**_

_**~ Even In Darkness We Rise~**_


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